Core and Enabling Products

This chart shows Microsoft’s seven core businesses, according to CEO Steve Ballmer. In his presentation at the 2009 Financial Analyst Meeting, Ballmer discussed the company’s commitment to investing in growth opportunities in spite of the difficult economy and decline in overall revenue. In his presentation, he cited seven business segments as “areas of endeavor”—that is, areas where Microsoft will continue to invest to drive growth. For these core businesses, Ballmer outlined whether they were profitable or not and gave a rough estimate of FY’09 operating expenses (OpEx), not including cost of goods sold. Ballmer also named several other “enabling” businesses, which serve primarily to shore up or guide users to the growth businesses. Microsoft expects these businesses to break even or be slightly profitable on an ongoing basis, but does not expect them to grow significantly. Finally, Ballmer outlined operating expenses in administrative and other supporting parts of the business, which he described as being “frugal” for a company of Microsoft’s size.